Wire-feed device.



G. W. PERKINS.

WIRE FEED DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED 0e17, 1913.

Patented Sept. 15,1914.

w 7 5 n a ,0 m y M J THE NORRIS PETERS C0.. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINGTON. D.C

I "UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WVPERKINS, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HEATON PENIN-SULAB BUTTON FASTENER COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORA- TION0F MAINE.

WIRE-FEED DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Sept. 15, 1914.

To all 1071 0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PERKINS, citizen of the United States,residing at Bos ton, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Tire-Feed Device, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawings. I

The invention relates to an improvement in a safety device for wire feedto prevent buckling of the wire if the wire meets with an obstructionduring the progress of the feed mechanism. p

The invention is especially intended for application to a machine forforming metallic fasteners for attaching a button to 'a shoe or otherarticle but it is not limited to that use. For convenience ofdescription the invention is shown as embodied in a machine forattaching buttons to boots and shoes. In machines of this character thewire is fed through suitable guides in a step by step movement, the wirebeing advanced at each period a distance equal to the length requiredfor a blank to form a single fastener. After the wire has been threadedthrough a button it is cut off and the fastener is formed and carriedwith the button to the shoe to which it is to be attached. If the buttonis not properly positioned for the wire to pass through the eye, thewire in feeding is liable to strike against some obstruction and bebent. A safety device whereby if there is any obstruction in the path ofthe moving wire during its feeding movement the feed of the wire willcease before it bends and the several parts will be self adjusted beforethe next feed movement is shown and described in Patent No. 1,056,444,dated March 18, 1913, granted on my application.

The present invention, is an improvement on the invention shown in saidformer patent. In the device shown in said former patent the feed doghas a chisel-shaped engaging edge which has a tendency to nick the wire,especially when the movement of the wire is suddenly stopped by meetingan obstruction, as above described. If the wire is thus nicked it is aninjury to the fastener which is formed from that portion of the wire.

The special object of the present inventionis to provide an improvedform of feed in connection with the safety device.

The invention will be fully understood from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novelfeatures thereof will be pointed out and clearly defined in the claimsat the close of the specification.

In the drawings,Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a buttonraceway, wire feed mechanism, and connected parts embodying theinvention. Fig. 2 is a plan of the wire feed mechanism shown in Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view similar toFig. 2 but with the parts in the position that they will assume afterthe feed block has begun its forward movement. Fig. 5 is a section online 5-5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detail view enlarged of the feed dog.

Referring now to the drawings,1 represents a cover of a raceway beneathwhich the buttons travel down to the position where the eye of thebutton 2 lies in position to receive a wire 4 from which the fastenerblank is cut. The mechanism for cutting the wire and forming a fasteneris not shown in the drawings, as that forms no part of the presentinvention.

Mounted fast on a rod 5 is a block 6 which i termed the wire end block,and passing loosely through said block 6 is a rod 7 which serves as aguide. The wire 4 passes through'a guideway in the wire end block 6.Fulcrumed at 10 to said block 6 is a dog 11 whose lower end engages theupper side of the wire 4. A spring 13 seated atits rear end in a recessin a projection 14 on the block 6 presses against the rear' side of theupper arm of the dog 11 and normally holds said dog in a position sothat the point of the dog will engage the wire '4 as shown in Fig. 1.The dog yields sutliciently to allow the wire to be fed forward butprevents the wire from being drawn backward.

Loosely mounted on the rods 5 and 7 is a block 9 which is termed thefeed block. Said block 9 has a guide-way for the wire 4. This guide-waymay be formed in any suitable way. As shown, it consists of a groovedblock 15 mounted on the side of the feed block9 and cooperating with asuitable tion on the feed block 9 by a button 8 held in place by a screw17. Said block 9 is slidable on the rod 7.

The feed block 9 is held and carried a reciprocable lever 18 which isactuated in any suitable manner so as to give a reciproeating movementin a straight line to the feed block 9. A. dog 20 is fulcrunied on a pin19 which is secured in the block 9, said dog 20 having a face 12parallel with the wire 4 formed with a plurality of transverseserrations which engage the wire 4 to feed the wire. Said fulcrum pin 19is mounted in any suitable way in the block but as shown it is held inposition by a screw which is screwed into a hole in the feed block andimpinges on the pin 19 to hold it in place. A lever 47 fulcrumed on pin48 has arounded lower end 49 which engages with the sloping upper sideof the dog 20, said lower end being normally held in engagement with thesaid dog 20 by a spring 21 mounted in a recess in a lug 22 on the block9 which projects out of said recess and engages with the upper arm ofthe lever 47 to hold the lower end of the sa d lever in engagement withsaid dog 20. The pin 48 is held in position by a screw 51 which isscrewed into the-block 9. The tension of the spring 21 issuflicientlystrong so that the lever 47 will cause the dog 20 to hold the wireclamped to the feed block so that the wire will be fed'by the forwardmovement of the feed block if there is no unusual obstruction to thetravel of the wire.

On the return movement of the feed block the dog 20 is allowed to trailback over the wire, the wire being held from backward movement by thedog 11.

Means are provided whereby if on the forward stroke of the lever 18 theend of the wire which is supposed to thread through the button meetswith any obstruction before the end of its stroke the feed block will berestrained from advancing although the lever 18 continues its stroke.The means shown are substantially the same as the means for that purposeshown in said Patent 1,056,444, and are as follows: The feed block 9 ismounted upon the carrier lever 18 by ayielding tension connection whichwill be sufiiciently strong so thatthe feed block will be carried by thelever 18 under normal conditions, but when resistance is offered, suchas occasioned by the wire being ob-, structed, the tension connectionwill yield and the fe'edblock will stand still temporarily while thelever 18 continues its forward movement until the said dog 5 is trippedfrom its engagement with the wire,

and then the said'feed block can be-carried to the end of its strokefree from gripping engagement with the wire. "The outer end; of thelever 18 isformed with' 'a 'fiatted por-. tio fieand the 'b1 ck9 is frmed witha recess 23 in its under side which receives said fiatted endportion of the lever 18. Said flatted portion 24 of the lever is formedwith a vertical'recess 43 of somewhat less width than the width of theblock 9 so that the block 9 bridges the recess 43 and is supported onthe said flatted portion of the lever. The block 9 is provided with atongue 25 which lies in the horizontal recess 23 in said block. Saidtongue 25 is of less width than the width of the recess 43 so as toallow a possible relative movement of the lever and the block 9 in adirection parallel with the wire so that if the block is restrained frommovement the lever may still continue to move to the end of its stroke.Projecting laterally from the flatted portion of the lever 18 is anextension 26 formed with holes which extend transversely through saidextension from the outer edge thereof and opening into the recess 43 inthe said lever 18. Inserted loosely in each of the holes in saidextension 26 is a pin 27 whose inner end impinges against the tongue 25.Each of said pins 27 is formed with a reduced portion on which ismounted a spring 28. An adjusting screw 44 screws into the threadedouter portion of the hole in the extension26 and may be adjusted toregulate the tension of the spring 28, the reduced portion of the pin 27passing loosely through an aperture in the stem of the screw 44. Thetension of the spring 28 is sufficient so that the pins 27 will hold thetongue 25 against the wall of the recess 43 in the lever 18 on theforward side thereof so that the feed block and the wire engaged by thedog 20 will be carried along with the movement of the lever under normalconditions, but when the wire meets with an obstruction the grip of thedog 20 on the wire will be sufficient so that while the lever continuesto move, the resistance to the onward movement of the feed block willovercome the tension f the spring 28 and hold the feed block 9temporarily against movement. Means are provided, however, so that whenthe lever 18 is moved a short distance after the feed block has becomerestrained from movevment the dog 20 will be tripped from engagementwith the wire and thus leave the feed block free to move. The tension ofthe springs 28 will then thrust the feed block forward without movingthe wire, and then the feed block will continue to the'end of itsforward stroke with the lever 18. The tripping means shown are asfollows: Pivoted at 31 to the feed block 9 is a lever 32 whose upperportion 83 is bifurcated and straddles the upper arm of the lever 47 sothat by oscillating said lever 47 on its pivot the lower arm 49 thereofwill be released from engagement with the-dog 20 so that the said dog 20will not be positively held in Lengagement with thewi-re but will allowthe dog to slide over the wire. The lower arm of said lever 32 extendsdown through the recess 43 in the extension of the lever 18. A pin 34projects from the lower portion of said lever 32 and is adapted to beengaged by a pin 35, which projects from the under side of the flattedportion 24 of the lever 18 but said pins are normally a short distanceapart from each other. When the lever 18 continues its movement afterthe feed block 9 is restrained by the stopping of the wire under theobstruction, said pin 35 will engage the pin 34 on the lever 32 andthereby turn the lever 32 on its pivot and thus rock the lever 47 in adirection to lift the lower end of the said lever 47 out of engagementwith the dog 20.

Pivoted on a pin 36 in a slotted post 371 v which projects from theblock 9 is a latch lever 37 which is formed with a hook 38 on one endwhich is adapted to be snapped down, into engagement with the lever 32when the said lever 32 has been turned back to release the lever 47 fromthe dog 20. Normally the said hook 38 will rest against the back face ofthe lever 32, leaving the lever 32 unlocked, but when the lever 32 isturned on its pivot in the manner previously described it will turn saidlever far enough to carry its back face out of engagement with the hook38, and a spring 39 will imme diately throw the lever 37 so as to snapthe hook down against the outer edge of the lever 32 to latch the saidlever 32 in its backward position. In order that the said latch shall bereleased so that the lever 47 will be again in position to engage theback of the dog 20 to cause it to grip the wire for a feed movementafter the feed movement has been moved back for another stroke, the

rear end of said lever 37 is formed with a cam portion 40 which beforethe feed block 9 reaches the end of its backward stroke will engage withthe face 41 of a projection 42 on the end block 6, thereby turning thesaid latch lever 37 in a direction to release the hook 38 from the lever32 and allow the spring 21 to turn the lever 47 back so as to bring thelower end 49 into engagement with the dog 20 and hold it in grippingengagement with the wire.

In the ordinary use of the machine if there is no obstruction to theproper feed of the wire the feed block 9 will continue to the full endof its forward stroke with the lever 18 without any checking of themovement of the feed block with relation to the lever and without anytripping of the lever 47, and on the backward stroke of the lever 18 thefeed block will also move with the lever 18 and the dog 20 will trailback over the wire 4 and at the end of its backward stroke the dog20will be in gripping engagement with the wire ready for the forwardfeed.

What I claim is:

1. In a wire feed device, a reciprocable feed block having a rest onwhich the wire is supported, a dog pivoted to said feed block, said doghaving a serrated face which normally engages the wire, and clamps it tothe feed block, and means for holding said dog in engagement with thewire during the forward movement of the feed block.

2. In a wire feed device, a reciprocable feed block having a rest onwhich the wire is supported, a dog pivoted to said feed block, said doghaving a face which normally lies parallel with the wire and is formedwith a plurality of teeth transversely of said face which engage withsaid wire, and means for normally holding said dog with its teeth inengagement with the wire.

3. In a wire feed device, a reciprocable feed block having a rest onwhich the wire is supported, a dog pivoted to said feed block, said doghaving a serrated face which normally engages the wire, a pivoted leverhaving one arm which engages theback of said dog to hold it in grippingengagement with the wire, a spring which holds said lever in yieldingengagement with said dog, a reciprocable actuating member which movessaid feed block, a yielding tension connection between said actuatingmechanism and said feed block which yields to resistance to the onwardmovement of the feed block and permits the continued movement of saidactuating mechanism, and tripping mechanism which is actuated by thesaid continued'movement of the actuating mechanism to release from saiddog said lever which holds the dog in engagement with the wire.

4. In a wire feed device, a reciprocable feed block having a rest onwhich the wire is supported, a dog pivoted to said feed block, said doghaving a serrated face which normally engages the wire and having aninclined back, a pivoted lever having one arm formed with a rounded endwhich engages the inclined back of said dog to hold it in grippingengagement with the wire, a spring which holds said lever in yieldingengagement with said dog, a reciprocable actuating member which movessaid feed block, a yielding tension connection between said actuatingmechanism and said feed block which yields to resistance to the onwardmovement of the feed block and permits the continued movement of saidactuating mechof the wire and formed with a plurality of serrationstransverse of the path of movement of the wire which engage with thewire and clamp it to the feed block, and means for reciprocating saidfeed block.

6. In a wire feed device, a reciprocable block on which the wire issupported, a dog pivoted to said feed block and having a serrated facewhich normally engages the wire to clamp it to the feed block, a pivotedlever having one arm which engages the back of said dog to hold it ingripping engagement with the wire, and a spring which holds said leverin yielding engagement with said dog.

7. In a wire feed device, a reciprocable feed block on which the wire issupported, a dog pivoted to said feed block having a serrated face whichnormally engages the wire and clamps it to the feed block so that thewire will travel with the feed block, said dog having an inclined back,a pivoted lever having one arm which engages the said inclined back ofthe dog to hold it in gripping engagement with the wire, a spring whichholds said lever in yielding engagement with said dog, and meanscontrolled bythe stopping of the wire before the end of the feedmovement of the feed block to trip said lever from said dog.

8. In a wire feed device, a reciprocable feed block on which the wire issupported, a dog pivoted to said feed block having a serrated face"which engages with the wire and clamps it to the feed block so that thewire will be fed by the movement of the feed block in one direction, anda pivoted lever having one arm formed with a rounded end which engagesthe back of said dog to hold it in gripping engagement with the wire.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

' GEORGE XV. PERKINS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM A. COPELAND, Anion H. MORRISON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C.

